Shipman's field notes, Dec 2015

I really tried to make this into a Red-tail, but it was a terrible fit. The head is slate gray, not brown. Intermediate phase Red-tails can have that rich red color on the breast, but never all the way to the vent like this bird. The tail just looks whitish, maybe a bit duskier at the tip. Thanks to the Bosque docents who agonized over a picture of probably the same individual at some length, I think dark-phase Ferruginous is a good call. It's certainly not a plumage I can remember seeing before.

Although I normally consider coots rather silly, I love the way the deep red eyes in this photo make it look like some kind of Japanese monster movie monster.

ID is guesswork based on white lores.

This was about the time I decided to head home due to near white-out conditions. It was ugly on I-25. I saw two drivers lose it in the last half-mile before the Socorro exit. One car in front of me did a 450° spin. A pickup in the southbound fast lane went over the edge, crossed the entire median in about four seconds, and wound up southbound in the northbound fast lane. Fortunately, no contact.

Like snow off a coot's back.

Flying through the snowstorm.

Peeking out from behind insulator.